Station-indicator.



L. O. WISENBERG.

STATION INDIGATOR. I APPLICATION r1121) JAN. 18, 1910. 1 002 352 Patented Sept. 5, 1911.

I 4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

M \R 1% \m 1 L. 0. WISENBERG.

STATION INDICATOR. APPLICATION FILED JAN.18. 1010.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2 A mu Patented Sept. 5, 1911.

W @Hozucg' L. O. WISENBERG.

STATION INDICATOR.

"APPLICATION FILED JAN. 18. 1010.

1,002,352, Patented Sept. 5, 1911 4 SHEETSSHEET 3.

L. 0. WISENBERG.

STATION INDICATOR.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 18, 1910.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

Patented Sept. 5, 1911.

UNITED- STATESuPAiE-ENT OFFICE.

LEROY O. WISENBERG, OF DENVER, COLORADO.

STATION I NDICATOR.

of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to station indicators, my object being to provide a constructlon adapted to be mounted upona-car and which shall automatically display the names of the streets or stations at a proper time fort he guidance of the passengers. In other words,

the names of the streets are automatically announced visually before each street is reached so that the passengers do not have to rely upon the uncertain announcement of the conductor, who usually speaks insuch a low or peculiar tone that passengers cannot hear .or understand, the result being that they areoften carried past their streets, particularly on dark and stormy nights.

My improved construction, as illustrated in the drawing, is mounted upon a car operatetbby electricity, the current being supplied from an overhead'trolley, ,The curconductor to an electromagnet, which acting on an armature moves the latter sufficiently to operate a lever, one extremity of which normally engages a notch or recess formed in the periphery of a disk which is mounted on the armature shaft of a motor,- thus looking the motor shaft against movement. As soon as the lever is operated to release the motor, the circuit is closed through the lat-.

ter by the engagement of the other end of the lever with a contact. The current which supplies the motor for operating the name curtain, is taken from the trolley wire in the usual way, that is to'say, through the trolley pole, but the circuit is broken after the armature shaft and the notched disk mounted thereon has made a complete revolution,

since when this occurs the locking lever will engage the notch or recess in the periphery of the disk, and as soon as this occurs the circuit is again broken through the motor which operates the name curtain. Pro- Speciflcation of Letters Patent.

WIsENBERG,

Patented Sept, 5', 1911.

Application filed January 18, 1910. Serial No. 538.696.

vision is made through the instrumentality .of sultable gears connected in operative relation with the motor, whereby the name curtain may be caused to travel in either direction. This curtain is mounted upon rolls which are rotated from the motor through the agency of suitable clutch and gearing connections, all of which will be hereinafter fully .set forth, reference being made to the accompanying drawing, in which,

Figure 1 is a section taken through the casing of the station indicator mechanism, th e'name curtain and its operating rollers belng partly broken away.- Figs. 2, 3, and 4 are cross sections taken on the lines 4-4, 5-5, and 66, respectively, of Fig. 1.

The "same reference characters indicate the same parts in all.the views.

A w re 15- leads from the trolley wire to a b1nd1ng post 16 from which leads a wlre 17 to one terminal of an electromagnet 18, from whose opposite terminal leads a wire 19 to a binding post 20 from which a conductor 21' leads to the ground. The wire 15 is put into electrical communicatlon with the trolley wire at predetermined intervals and the electromagnet 18 is energlzed and an armature 24 actuated or drawn to the cores of the magnet whereby a lever 25, fulcrumed at 26 is actuated to disengage the depending part 27 of the lever from a notch or'reces's 28 formed in the periphery of a disk 29 fast on the armature shaft 30 of a motor31. The armature 24 is pivoted at one extremity as shown at 32, its oppo' site extremity being connected by means of a link 33, with the arm 34: of the lever 25 carrying a depending part 27 which engages the recess 28 of the'disk. The upposite arm 35 of the lever is connected with a conductor 36 and when the arm 34 of the lever is lifted to disengage the latter from the recess 28 of the disk 29, the arm 35 of the lever is brought into engagement with a contact 37 from which leads a conductor 33 to one pole of the motor 31. From the opposite pole of this motor leads a conductor 39 to a binding post 40 from which a conductor 41 leads to the source of current supply. The return current passes through a conductor 42 to a'binding post 43 and thence to the arm 35 of the le ver 25-tl1rough the wire or conductor 36. It will thus be understood that the motor 31, for operating the name curtain of the station indicator is supplied with current 'being from the same source as the propelling motors of the car, this circuit, however,

normally broken and intermittently closed.

hen the motor 31 is in operation the armature shaft 31 is rotated, and a gear or pinion 44 actuated to operate a relatively large gear 45, mounted on the shaft 30 and on which the disk 29 is also mounted. Another gear 46 is mounted on the armature shaft 31* and meshes with two larger gears47, mounted on shafts 48, carrying similar gears or pinions 49, one of which meshes directly with the gear 50, while the other meshes with an idle gear 51 which in turn meshes .with another gear 50. The two gears 50 are of the same size and each is mounted upona shaft 51. Each-shaft 51 is journaled 1n partitions 52, 53 and 54, lo cated within the casing. Upon each shaft [is mounted a spiral spring 55, one extremity of which engages the partition 53, while its opposite extremity bears upon a disk or collar 56 formed on one extremity of a sleeve '57 longitudinally movable on the shaft 51, the said sleeve bein provided at its opposite extremity with a c utch member 58 adapted to engagea companion clutch member 59 fast on one extremity of a-shaft 60 carrying at its opposite extremities relatively large friction disks 61 engaging similar disks 62 fast on the opposite extremities of a rearwardly locatedtshaft 63 carrying a' roller '64 journaled in the casing and upon which the name curtain 65 is wound when the curtain is traveling in-one direction and from which it is unwound when the curtain gagement the one with the other.

is traveling in the opposite direction. It will be. understood that, the mechanism mounted on the shafts 51, together with their coiiperating arts, are duplicates in every particular. owever, when the'machine is in operation but one of the shafts 60 is operated at the same time, since provision 1s made for disengaging one set of companion clutch members, 58 and 59, while the other set of clutch members are in en- This adustment of the clutch members is accomplished by means of a. vertically disposed ar 66 having recesses 67. This bar is. equipped atits lower extremity with a push button 68 which is movable in an opening formed in the casing. This bar 66 is slotted, as shown at 69, to receive a pin 70' mounted on the shell of the motor 31. When this push bar is moved to the position shown in Fig. 3, the recess 67 registers with the collar 56 of thelower sleeve 57, whereby the corresponding spring 55 acts to move the sleeve 57' sufliciently -to bring the lower ,clutch faces, 58 and 59, into operative engagement. At the same time the up er recess 67 of the pushbar is raised su ciently to cause the adjacent straight edge, of the said bar to act uponthe collar 56 of the uppermost sleeve 57 thus shifting the said sleeve against the adjacent spring 55 and disengaging the corresponding clutch faces 58 and 59. In this event the name curtain 65 will be drawn downwardly, that is to say, unwound from the upper roller 64 and wound upon the corresponding lower roller, designated by the same reference character.

The rotation of the shaft 57 acting through the clutch members 58 and 59, act directly to rotate the shaft 60 upon which is mounted what I will term a feed roller 71 located forward of the curtain roller 64. As the curtain 65 is unwound from either roller 64, it engages a roller 71 and is also acted u on by an opposing cotiperating spring-tgnsioned roller 72 which bears against the apron with suflicient force to cause the feed roller to impart the necessary travel to the curtain. This tension roller 72 has its shaft 73 journaled in verticall movable boxes 74 slidable in artitions 5 and 76. Engaging these mova le journal boxes arespiral springs 77, one extremity of eachsprlng engaging the stationary part 78 of the casing while its opposite extremity bears against the journal box 74.

It will be understood that the rollers 71 act to move the curtain or impart thereto engage one pair of clutches, 58 and 59, from each other, while the other air of clutch faces is allowed to interlock or curtain operating purposes. When it is desired to reverse the travel of the curtain, the bar 66 is pushed to disengage the lower pair of clutch faces, 58 and 59 for instance, and throw the upper pair of clutch faces into operative engagement. In this event the curtain would be drawn on unwound from the lower curtain roller 64 and wound upon the upper roller.

Each curtain roller, as heretofore explained, is actuated by the engagement of friction wheels or gears 61 mounted on the shaft 60, with similar friction wheels or gears 62 mounted on the shaft 63 of the curtain roller. The friction gears or disks 62 are held in operative engagement with their coiiperating riction gears 61 by a pair of bow-shaped springs 81, whose central portions 82 are secured to the casing by screws 83 or other suitable fastening devices. The extremities 84 of these springs engage the ooaeae extremities of the curtain roller shafts Q3 and act on the said shafts whose extremities engage slotted openings 85in the partitions 7 5 and 76, with sudicient force to bring the friction wheels or gears 62 into operative engagement with the coiiperating friction gears 61. V

.The front part of the casing is provided with an opening 86 covered by a glassplate 1 87 through which the names of the streets upon the curtain 65 are observed. At the upper and lower extremities of this opening guide-rollers 88 and 89 are located. These rollers maintain the curtain in proper position in the front part of the casing, to cause it to travel in close proximity to the glasscovered opening 86, whereby the names of the streets are easily observed.

Each sleeve 57 is provided with a slot 90, through which passes a pin 91 fast on the shaft 51. The length of the slot 90 is sufiicient to allow the sleeve the necessary longitudinal movement on the shaft for the purpose of causing the clutch faces 58 and 59 to engage and separate as may be desired.

One end of the casing is provided with a door 93 hinged to the casingas shown at 92. When this door is open, the entire roller mechanism carried by the two partitions, 75 and 7 6, may be slid out of the casing. These partitions are connected at their upper and lower extremities by cross bars 94 which, together with said partitions, constitute a rigid framework. This is an important feature, since it makes it practicable to remove 'the roller mechanism of the indicator, to-

- ties of the line.

gether with all parts supported by the par-r titions '7 5 and 6, to permit the substitu-' tion of another set of mechanism, whenever it may be desired to change the name cur tain, or equip the indicator for use with a car traveling on a different street. This hinged door 93 is provided with openings 95 adapted to receive a key or the socket end of a crank adapted to fit over either angle extremity 96 of either of the outer disks or friction gears 61. vBy virtue of this construction, the name curtain maybe adjusted on its supporting rollers to occup any dosired positlon that may be require or necessary, in the event that the car shall not travel over the entire length of the line or should commence intermediate the extremi- Unde-r any such circum stances, the name curtain may be readily adjusted to disclose the next street in a vance of the car traveling in either direction, and after that the street names or stations will. appear in regular order without further adjustmentof the mechanism. r

When it is desired to remove a name curtain from the roller mechanism or when a new curtain is desired, the door 95 is opened and the entire mechanism carried by the partitions 7 5 and 76 is removed, and a new ,segof mechanism put in, having a proper name curtain. In this event practically no time need be lost in changing the indicator to adapt it for use on another route or line of the system.

In order that the-roller mechanism may be properly adjusted when inserted in the-casing, the latter is provided with stops 97 adapted to engage the upper and lower edges of the partition 75, when the roller mechan1sm has been moved into the proper position to bring the clutch members 59 into suitable proximity with their companion members 58. By virtue of these stops no skill is required in the proper adjustment of the mechanism when the latter is inserted in the casing. 7 t

From the foregoing descri tion the use and operation of my improve station indicator will be readily understood. As the car, travels along the conductor 15 at predetermined intervals is brought into electrical engagement with the trolley Wire, whereby the current asses through the conductor 15, the binding post 16 and thence through a conductor 17 to the electromagnet 18, the circuit being completed through a wire 19, a

binding post"'20 and a conductor 21 to the ground 22. This results in energizing the magnet 18 and causing its armature bar 24 to move sufficiently to disengage the locking lever 25 from the notch or recess 28 of the gage wheel or disk 29, the circuit through the motor 31 being completed by the downward movement of the arm 35 of the lever, whereby the last named arm is brought into contact with the bracket 37, thus closing the circuit through the motor 31. As the motor is now supplied with current, its armature shaft will be rotated and relatively slow motion communicated to the gear fast on the shaft 30, the said gear meshing with thepinion 44 on the motor shaft. The rotation of the shaft 30 imparts a corresponding movement to the disk or gage wheel 29 which is free to move as soon as the lever is disengaged from the notch in its periphery.

As soon, however, as the gage wheel 29 has made a complete rotation, the lever will again drop into the recess 28, thus preventing further movement of the parts until the electromagnet 18 is again energized, and this will not occur until the auxiliary contact of the trolley pole is brought into engagement with the next swinging contact or electrode carried by the trolley wire. Simultaneously with the beginning of the operation of the motor, a gear 46 fast on'the motor shaft, is brought into engagement with two gears 47, whereby the two shafts 48 are rotated. Upon these shafts are mounted relatively small gears or pinions 49, one of which meshes directly with the upper gca1' \vlieel 50, while the other or lower pinion 49 only acts on the lower wheel 50 through the medium of an idler'gear or pinion 51. It will thus be seen that the speed of the armature shaft or the motion thereof will be geared down, so to speak, whereby a number of rotations of the armature shaft is made'every time a complete revolution is imparted to the curtain rolls which areactuated by the movement of the gears through the intervention of the clutch faces 58 and 59, and the feed rolls.7l with which the tension rolls 72 cooperate, as heretofore explained. As illustrated in the drawing, the relative size of the Various gears is such that each feed roll 71 is given a complete revolution approximately for each rotation of the gage wheel 29 and the tension of the roll 72 cotiperating with the feed roll-71 is such that a positive movement is imparted to the name curtain during each intermittent movement of the armature shaft, equal to the circumference of the feed roll. However, as heretofore explained, it will be understood that the movement of the curtain is always due. to the action of a single feed roll 71 and its cooperating roll 72 which serve to pull the curtain from one curtain roll 62 and deliver it to the other curtain roll 62. The latter, however,-

must berotated in order. to wind the name curtain thereon and this is accomplished through the instrumentality of the frlction disk or gear 61 fast on the shaft 60 of the feed roll 71, since the said friction disk 61 acts upon the cooperating disk 62 fast on the shaft of the name curtain roll 64:.

Attention is called to the fact that the diameter of each name curtain roll 64 is slightly smaller thanthat of its correspondconvolution of the name curtain upon the ing feed roll'7l and consequently the relative circumference of the friction disks 61 and 62 is such that at the beginning of the operation of winding the name curtain upon a curtain roll, sufficient movement is imparted to the latter to just take up the length of the curtain which is delivered-thereto .by a complete rotation of the feed roll which is permitted by the movement of the age wheel 29, as heretofore explained. The consequence is that immediately after the first winding curtain roll, less movement of the curtain roll. will be required in order to take up the length of the curtain delivered thereto by a single rotation of the feed roll. Consequently the travel of the disk 62 will be retarded and the disks 61 and 62 must have a relative sliding movement upon each other on this account which gradually increases in degree until the name curtain is completely wound upon the winding roll. This sliding movement is permitted by reason of the fact that the tension of the springs 81 which act upon the shafts 630i the cursuch, as compared with that of the springs 81, that the travel of the friction disk 62 may be retarded during the positive travel of the engaging disk 61, without undue wear upon the friction wheels.

From the foregoing explanation it will be understood that every time the motor 31 acts by virtue of the delivery thereto of current from the trolley wire through the shunt circuit elements heretofore explained, a uniform length of name curtain will be drawn from one curtain roll 64 and wound upon the other curtain'roll 64:, this length of ourtain being just such as to bring into view the name of the next street to an observer looking at the face of the indicator mechamsm.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

In a station indicator, the combination with a casing, of a name curtain, and rolls with which the name curtain is connected to be wound on either roll while it is unwound from theother, feed rolls for actuating the curtain rolls, a friction disk connection'between the feed rolls and the curtain rolls, a

pair of suitably spaced leaf springs secured intermediate their extremities to the casing, the curtain rolls being yieldingly supported by the said springs upon opposite extremirolls for breaking the connection between the motor and one feed roll while the connection is established between the motor and the other feed roll, whereby the movement of the curtain may be reversed at will, for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

LEROY O. WISENBERG. Witnesses:

JNO. G. PO ELL, Jnssm F. HOBART. 

